The Collinsport Chronicles XLVII: BIRD OF PREY
by Maryland Rose
Summary: Hallie comes to Collinsport to claim her son to sacrifice to Ra. No one knows that she is now a phoenix, but Amy suspects the danger and tries to prepare for it.
1. Chapter 1

BIRD OF PREY

Chapter 1

"So it all ended well." Sabrina said "Maggie will be back in Congress, and the doppelganger will just vanish. It was weird, working that way. I could swear sometimes that she was the real Maggie."

"The illusion is supposed to be a very complete one." Angelique replied "But it is only an illusion. Sort of an elaborate holograph."

"It wasn't murder, was it? When we made it vanish?"

"No. It was never alive. How could it be killed?"

"Sometimes I wonder..."

"It was merely and optical illusion. Optical illusions are just tricks of the light on the eyes. They have no independent existence, no matter what they may believe about them."

"Yes. Maybe. But you did not have to live next to it for weeks. I am sort of mourning for it now, even though,, as you said, it never existed" she frowned "maybe I should contact you later on, should I need a double for anything."

"No, I don't think I'd like that." Angelique was worried. Sabrina had killed once. She might kill again, and she may want a doppelganger for an alibi. Angelique wanted none of that.

"Why not?" I would pay you well."

"Sabrina, don't take it badly, but some of the things that you are capable of scare me. Roxanne said it once, that you are afraid of nothing, and that makes you so scary. I don't want to find out what kind of trouble you can get all of us in."

'You once used to be fearless."

'Yes, until I got tired of getting into trouble that I could not get out as easily as I had gotten in. I had to get some sense sooner or later."

"And you think that I haven't got it?"

"I hope that, for you, getting it will be easier than it was for me."

Sabrina shrugged "All right, if you don't want to, you don't want to. But the offer still stands. Anyway, I will probably have my hands full now with Maggie, telling her all that the doppelganger did in her name, and how she can live it down."

* * *

Barnabas felt embarrassed by the adoration that Tammy was showering on him. He could deal with Julia, with Maggie, with his own past. But to be worshipped, as if he were a god, or a saint, capable of working miracles, was too much. He felt himself to be a fraud. He had done no more than what the had to do.

"Sure." Julia said, with gentle irony "anybody else would have done the same. Anybody else would have been glad to volunteer."

"I was not too glad about it, if you remember."

"And anyway, what else is Tammy to do? She feels such gratitude, she has to express it. And to tell the truth, you like it."

"I don't"

"You do." George intervened. "You just think that you don't deserve it, and that sooner or later they will find out that you are a fraud. Well, you are not. Remember how Willie got uncomfortable when they called him 'Mr. Loomis"? He thought that at any time they would find out that he was a high school dropout and ex-con. And you think that in the middle of Tammy's gushing, Trask is going to show up, and confront you with your victims, unmasking you to her."

"Trask can't touch me now."

"Are you sure of that?"

"Yes. I learned it when... when I was unconscious. Dave told me that."

'You met him?"

'Yes."

"Did he tell you anything else?"

"That he send you his love." Barnabas hesitated. He cold not tell of his being found Worthy, as he could not understand what that meant, himself. Nor the way that Bathia had planned his life for some purpose he could not understand. As for telling George that he would die soon. He did not want to do it yet. He wanted to give George at least a few days of uncomplicated joy.

"Anything else?" George prodded, worried by Barnabas' expression.

"Yes... something else... I am trying to remember." he did remember one more bit, something that was true, while keeping the rest form George. "He told us to beware of the fire."

* * *

"Willie, listen to me, Willie." the old man insisted. "You've got to listen to me."

"Why? Why should I listen to you, you old drunk? What did you do in your life that was of worth to me or anyone? Why don't you get out of my life once and for all?"

"I am your father!"

"Don't remind me of that again! That was my misfortune, to be raised by you. Why didn't you do at least the decent thing and got away, and let us have a life by ourselves? Why did you keep us around so that you could have punching bags around when things got tough? You were too smart to beat up on guys bigger than you, or cops, or anything that could get you in jail. But you had a wife and kids, didn't you? And you used us well, didn't you? We earned our keep that way. Well, I don't need to earn my keep that way anymore, scumbag! Get out and stay out!"

"Son, you have to listen."

"I don't have to do a fucking thing! Get out! Get out!"

"She killed me!"

"Whoever she was, I will give her a medal. Get out, and stay out! Why don't you go to Hell where you belong?"

... Willie woke up, sweating...

He had dreamed again. His father would not leave him alone. Even dead, he could ruin things for you.

* * *

"You are coming to see the baby, aren't you?" Carolyn asked over the phone.

"Of course, I am." David was a bit cautious. "Just don't expect me to take him back. You know that I would be doing the kid no favor if I took him with me. You are taking good care of him, and you are not filling his head with all kinds of garbage about what a dreadful woman is mother is, and how he reminds me of her, and how can I be sure that he is really my son? He's having a better childhood than I had. You can at least give me credit for that."

"Still, Eliot needs a father."

"He needs a good father. I am not. Give me at least credit for knowing that much about myself. Oh, Carolyn, why do I have to argue this over and over? I will be there. That's all I can promise you."

He hung up the phone.

"If she keeps insisting that way, I might not go to Collinsport at all," he told Urien.

"Barnabas can be even worse." Urien said, sympathetically.

"Yes. He can. You still want to come along?"

"Yes. It will do me good to see them again."

* * *

He did not know where it came from, but Frank suddenly felt threatened.

It was not only the irritation of his arguments with Buffy, Yes, he did want a more traditional wife, that was true, but Buffy was getting very frustrated with running the school. He knew the signs when someone was overwhelmed, and Buffy showed the signs.

But he could not be the one to tell her that.

But this other... this new sense of menace, that was different.

What was it? What could be threatening now. Didn't they had all put the weirdness behind?

The log crackled in the fire and Frank tensed.

Laura had escaped and was coming back...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"So you dream of your father?" Julia asked Willie.

"Yes. I know what it means. I feel lousy about what happened to him. But it is unfair. What right does he to make me feel lousy about anything? I don't owe that bastard one damn thing."

Julia nodded. She knew what arguments Willie gave himself. And how hollow they sounded, even to himself.

"Maybe you should try making your peace with him."

"Make my peace with him? Why? You mean, accept him, and say that he was not so bad a father after all? That he did not wreck his children's lives? If I am not in jail, or drunk, or do drugs, on anything else, it is in spite of him. And anyway, it is too late to do any good. The dog is dead."

"He is dead. But you know better than to expect that it will be the end. He may need your forgiveness before he can rest."

"So? Am I supposed to make it easier for him? All the time it was _he_ who wanted, _he_ who needed. He could not worry about anyone else. Well, dammit, this time I decide what I need and what I want. And what I need and want is not to have him around anymore."

"Maybe you too need to make peace with him."

"Doctor, there are no guilt feelings. This is a real ghost. I want to have him exorcized."

"So why come to me, and to Reverent Trask or Angelique? I am a psychiatrist, not an exorcist."

Willie glared at her. She had called his bluff. He _did_ want to settle it out with his father, he wanted to forgive him, even if he despised himself for it.

"Why I should do anything for that bastard?"

"You should do it for yourself. For Louella's and Pearl's sake, you should be able to let go of the past."

"What do they have to do with...?" But he knew. He could never be a good husband or father as long as he was consumed by this hatred. Just because he had not hit Louella again did not mean that everything was as it should be between them.

"Still, I don't like it."

"No, maybe you don't. But if it will help you, you should do it."

"Well..." Willie hesitated He wanted it, yes. But he also wanted to have nothing do to with it. Or rather, he wanted to have it done, but not to have to go through it."

'"Well?"

"I will think about it." Willie said, getting up. "thank you for your time, doctor."

"Willie." Julia began to protest, but thought better of it. Nothing was to be gained from pushing Willie, In time he would get around to it.

Behind her, the desk lamp cast a red glare. And the red glare broke, invisible to both Julia and Willie, into the figures of Yolanda and Zoya.

"It will take her forever to turn him around." Zoya complained.

"It was a long shot."

"We lost Urien already. We pushed him too far."

"I know. It was my fault, wasn't it?" Yolanda asked, sourly.

Zoya shrugged/ We'll have to do with what's there. We'll have to work on Buffy and Frank. And Zeb and Jessica. Maybe Xavier too, and Redwolf... Anybody who's had contact with Laura in the past."

They were gone as Willie reached for the door and said goodbye to Julia once more.

* * *

Hallie was waiting for him. "You will go to Collinsport, won't you?" she asked Urien.

"I... arranged it."

"Good. It suits my plans. They will not suspect you. You can see my son, and when the moment comes, you can take him away."

"I will do so." Urien gulped. He wanted to rebel, but knew better. "You will not hurt Barnabas, will you?"

"Not unless he tries to stop me. But if you are careful, and he does not find out, he will be in no danger. Come, do as you are told, and no one will be hurt."

"No one, but your son."

"He won't be hurt, either."

* * *

Edmund had grown. Barnabas was amazed to discover how much. He was no longer of an age when you could pick him up in your arms. You had to learn how to talk to him like an equal, even if Edmund had not gotten there yet.

"You are doing quite well." he said.

"Thank you." Edmund was a bit guarded with him, but it was more embarrassment at not knowing what to say than any real fear.

Edmund would have been his son, if things had been different, a lot different... but so many things could have been, if only... Edmund was thriving as Carolyn's son, and he had Urien, and he had George, and he had so much... he could let that dream go."

"I heard that you are a good student."

"Yes. I am dong well... Tell me, was it my fault that Vicky left?"

"No."

"I gave her a hard time, because she looked like the... the other Vicky. And her husband..."

"Her husband who looked like the other Phillip Todd.,... yes. No, Edmund. Vicky and Phillip had other problems, and they had nothing to do with you."

"I would like to write to her, and apologize...I will have to ask Adam for the address."

"Adam?"

"Yes. He's already written to her. Saying that he's sorry... I thought I should do so, too."

"You talk with Adam?"

"Yes. He is OK. He is teaching me how to draw. And he's had me pose for a picture... he is not a jerk,"

"No, he is not."

"And you are not..." Edmund suddenly stopped.

"Well, I do not know what you heard about me. But I know that you saw me in my coffin and that you were scared of me for a long time. I am glad that you are getting over it."

"I have grown up." Edmund sad with pride, too much..."But yes, I had head some stories, back home. Roxanne did not want me to repeat them, but still I have heard them. I do not know why she disliked those stories so much."

Barnabas smiled "She was in love with me, and disliked hearing some unpleasant facts about me... " he became thoughtful. "Tell me, Edmund, what do you remember about... back home?"

"A bit. Mother does not like to hear about it. Neither does Uncle Roger."

"Yes. I can see why. But still, it is good that you remember."

"About father, he was not like Mother's husband, I mean the other husband?"

"No not at all."

"I kind of remember Mother... My mother back there. She was beautiful, wasn't she?"

"Yes. She was. And warm and loving. She was very brave, too. And she loved you very much."

"I remember Dr. Blair, and Roxanne. I remember when Buffy was our housekeeper. And I remember that there was trouble back then. It was very bad trouble, wasn't it?"

"Very bad, yes."

"And the bad guys were Phillip Todd. and Joseph Haskell, and Chris Collins... I still have nightmares about Phillip,.."

"Well, back there, they were the bad guys. But not here..."

"Barnabas, will you tell me more about them, about what went there? Mother does not want to talk about it, and it distresses Uncle Roger. He thinks that if I think about that I will not love him anymore...He's like a child.

Barnabas smiled to hear the half grown Edmund talk this way about Roger, and it was not less amusing because it was true.

"Sit down, Edmund" he said. Edmund did and Barnabas studied him. Soon he would not be a child any longer. And it was time that Edmund knew all about himself.

"I once wanted to adopt you. It could not be, and I cannot say that you have fared badly at Collinwood. Maybe it is better this way. Still it was to me that your father entrusted you. He said to take care of his son."

He related, as completely as he could, all he knew and remembered of Quentin, Maggie, Roxanne. He explained what Sergeant Haskell and Captain Todd stood for.

'Your father was a hero, Edmund. Never forget it."

* * *

"Do you feel anything?" Frank asked Buffy.

"Feel what?" Buffy struggled with the figures from the school. She was interrupted all the time by Lyndon's crying, and the dishes still needed doing. She did not have time for Frank's fancies.

"I feel like someone is talking to me."

She shook her head. "I do not hear anything." she returned to her accounts. Was there a way that she did not have to do everything at once? "What does they say? that you deserve a better wife than me? That you should keep me barefoot and pregnant?"

Frank sighed. That was another argument. He did not want to go that way. If those were salamanders, they would fasten on weakness. And that argument, win or lose, would create weaknesses for them to attach themselves to.

He wished that he could share his worries with Buffy. But ever since Vicky had saddled her with running the school it had become impossible.

But there would be other people he could talk to about his worry...


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"You don't really go to back to Collinsport, do you?" Urien asked David.

"Of course I do." David almost snarled as he spoke. "Just because I don't want to put up with Carolyn's nagging doesn't mean that I don't want to see my son. I just did what I thought best. And who are you to ask me that kind of question? Barnabas, always analyzing people, whether they want to be analyzed or not?"

"I did not mean to offend, but..."

"It is all right. It is not your fault. I am on edge after Carolyn gave me the third degree. As if she did not know any better. I don't know why she insists. It only makes thing worse."

He did not realize that he had referred to Eliot as his son. He was too busy being angry with the pressure everybody felt they had to put on him.

"She means well."

"They all mean well. If it is not her, it is Barnabas. And then Julia will put her two cents' worth. And George, who is such an expert on fatherhood will contribute. I am a bit sick and tired of being their social reclamation project. I agree, I was in quite some trouble once, but that is over. I straightened my life. I am grateful for all they did, but that does not give them the right to go on deciding what's best for me. I am not a kid anymore. And then, they miss the point of it. All they see is that Eliot does not have his father around. So he is abandoned and neglected. They don't see a child well cared for, given the affection he needs, not being forced to endure the bad temper and other less lovable qualities of an emotionally unstable man who happened to have fathered him. They don't see that I am sparing him the kind of childhood that my father forced on me."

Urien nodded, saying nothing.

"It is not that I don't live my son. I do. I just know myself too well to think that good intentions will be enough. I mean, I can take chances that I will do the right thing, and gamble that I will never want to take drugs again. But why have Eliot run the same chances?"

"You are not using drugs, that I know."

"No. I am not. But I have been tempted. Well, I handle the temptations alone. If I am strong enough, I will vanquish it. If I am not, I'll succumb to it. But why should be Eliot be in the middle of it? What has he do with the fact that his father is a yo-yo?"

"You are not a yo-yo."

'My father is, and I have inherited quite a bit of him, even if he does not believe that I am his son. Do you know that I once tried to kill my father?"

"You tried to kill Roger?"

"Yes. Tampered with his car. That was the kind of son I was. That was the kind of father he was. I was still a kid, but I still knew how to do it. Why is everybody so dead set against my wanting something better for Eliot? Why torture him too? They think that I am repeating my father's mistakes. And in a sense I am. Married someone who had a child, and then took, lovers, and finally abandoned both of us. In that respect, Hallie is just like mother. And I am the same fool that my father was."

Urien stiffened at the mention of Hallie's name. Did David suspect what she had done to him?"

"Not that I think that Hallie is a phoenix. Just a slut."

"Phoenix?" the question came out of him before he realized it."

"My mother was not a human being at all. She was a fire demon. Or fire elemental. She has to go up in flames regularly to renew her strength, or had... I don't know how it is with her, now, and I don't really want to know. And every now and then, she has to take a half-human child into the flames."

"And she tried to take you with her."

"First as a child. Then as a mate. You see, father was not the firsts Collins she married. First there was Jeremiah Collins, but there were no children. Then, in the last century, she married Edward Collins, and had Jamison and Nora. She tried to take her children with her into the flames with her, but did not succeed. But that was no great setback, since she married father, who as Jamison's son, was a quarter phoenix. I am five eights phoenix because of that. And it was because my phoenix blood is so strong that Laura thought I could be a mate for her."

"A mate, but she was your mother?"

"She did not care about that. She was from Ancient Egypt, where the Pharaohs married their sisters."

Cold sweat ran over Urien's body. If he had known... The falcon was of Egyptian design. Had he known abbot Laura, he could have avoided being enslaved to Hallie Collins.'

Who was a phoenix, just as Laura was.

* * *

Hallie knelt by the fire.

"The time draws near." she said to it. "And I shall do as I am bid. When the time comes, I will bring my child to the flames, to soar by the stars. And with him, if it is possible, I shall bring my husband, to reclaim his heritage, which he so foolishly rejected."

She rose again, and shed off her white robe. The purification rite, which must take place before her first pyre, had to begin. To sacrifice her child on Ra's altar, no impurities of any kind should be on her.

Salamanders rose around her, naked., with shimmering red hair reaching to the floor, with eyes who shone like embers. They encircled her, as they extended incense holders in their hands.

She stood straight in front of the flame. The flame rose and shot to the ceiling as a single lance. Hallie stood immobile in front of it. She extended her hands to it, and the flames caressed her fingers, enveloping them without burning.

The salamanders sang and swung the incense burners. The fire moved from her fingers to her wrists and arms, and continued down her body, enveloping her.

Hallie began the Purification Prayer, asking the fire to remove whatever was still human in her, to destroy the weak human flesh that still clung to her essence, to kill any unworthy feelings.

The fire enveloped her completely, and she gave herself to it. First it was red, then bright yellow, then white. And all the time the salamanders swung the incense to and fro, adding their voices to the prayer.

She went down to her knees, then laid herself down on the floor. And waited till the flames darkened again. and then moved back from her body to her arms, to her hands, to her fingertips, and then back to the central flame, from which they had sprung.

"Thank you, Ra." she said.

The salamanders lifted her to her feet. They placed the robe on her shoulders, the earrings on her ears, the bracelets on her wrists, the anklets on he feet, the rings on her fingers, the falcon at her throat. They braided her hair with red silk and gold. They perfumed her, and finally placed the scepter in her hand.

"Hail to you, our Queen."

And possessed still by the fire of Ra, Hallie felt as if indeed all humanity had been burned out of her. She knew that it was not true, that it would take many more Purifications for that to happen. But now she knew what to strive for.

* * *

"You haven't felt anything strange lately?" Frank asked Zeb.

"Strange like what?"

"You were one under Laura's influence once."

"And I'll never live it down, it seems." Zeb said bitterly "Look, I am sorry. I was an ass. I should not have, and all that. But for how long are you going to hold that against me?"

"I am not blaming you. God knows that I am guilty of the same thing myself. But there is this feeling of menace at home, and sometimes I hear voices coming from the fireplace."

"Does your wife?"

"Thins are strained between us. But I need to talk to someone who was under Laura's power once, to see if I am seeing things... Zeb, your wife is pregnant. You know that makes her a target where Laura is concerned."

"Yes. She is." Zeb blanched.

"You have dealt with Laura. Did you make any promises about your unborn child?"

"What?" Zeb almost shouted. But he knew what Frank was aiming at.

"When I was in Laura's power, Laura had gotten Louella to give up her unborn child. She did not realize what she was doing, nor what Laura wanted. Did you make any foolish promises?"

"I.. I..." Zeb wanted to deny it. say that, of course, she had not. But he did not remember what the false U.F.O. ad told him nor what he had answered. Maybe he had promised Jessica's child..."

"They said that Laura could not escape."

"Well, they could be wrong. Listen Zeb. This thing started when I heard voices coming from the fireplace. I am hearing them again. And if Buffy was not so harried and strung out, she probably would hear them, too... At least Lyndon has been born, and we never promised him. But still, I am scared,"

"So what do you want to do?"

"I would try to get some confirmation. And then tell Barnabas and Angelique."

"Confirmation? How?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Amy laid out the cards.

"Do you want a spread for Jessica?' she asked Zeb.

Zeb nodded.

"Yes, but in case I am wrong, you should do one for everybody who was once involved with Laura. Buffy, me, Redwolf, Xavier...

"I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll take out all the figure cards and shuffle them. I will choose one card and that card will represent the person for whom the spread should be set.

She separated the sixteen cards,. Four Kings, four Queens, four Knights, and four Pages. She shuffled them and laid them on the table.

"You cut them." she told Frank. "Put your whole will in to the doing of it."

Frank cut.

"You cut them too," she told Zeb.

Zeb did so.

Both of them had cut the cards. It was up now to her to choose the right card. She cut the deck in half and took the card in the middle.

It was the Knight of Cups.

"A Knight? But that is a man."

"It is the focus which will help us find what we seek."

"But..."

"The focus last time was David. No matter who else Laura threatened, it came down to him."

"David... a young man still... and that was what a Knight was. Could it be again? The Knight of Swords was rash, forceful, could be strong, but could also make the wrong decisions so easily. Swords were the first suit, the weakest one. They could be used, but always with caution, and regretfully. The Knight of Coins showed the danger of concentrating on one thing only. The Knight of Coins, while not as misguided in his rashness as the Knight of Swords, was looking at the gold ahead, and not at the road.

Neither of those attitudes could be said to represent David. Not at the moment. He was not wholly lost in the pursuit of success on any terms. He was not coming to Collinport as the result of a rash decision, though there plenty in his past.

The Knight of Wands had been trusted with a living thing, a branch, and was faithful to it... David had not been wholly faithful. But the Knight of Cups, carrying before him a cup, which symbolized both love and knowledge... could _that_ be David?

Yes, if you supposed that the cup was empty and he was coming. as a pilgrim to fill it again. If you thought that he had come to claim the son he had abandoned.

"It is David again." she announced. "David and his son. That's what it focuses on. David has become a father, and a new child, with phoenix blood in him, is at Collinwood."

"But Hallie Collins is no phoenix herself." Frank pointed out.

"I did not say she was. Only that her son is David's son, and by leaving David, she may have relinquished the claim that she, as a human, could make on the child."

"Can you lay the cards for it?" Zeb asked.

"I will try."

* * *

Nicholas took another drink. He coddled it. He looked at the wall, as if expecting to find the shadow there. It was not. Angelique had removed it a few years back, and he should be grateful for small favors.

He no longer had the excuse of the shadow for his drinking. But he drank, anyway.

He was a failure, through and through. And if his Master did not punish him for his failures, it was perhaps because no punishment could be worse than this. To be left alone in a bar, getting drunk, contemplating all that he could have accomplished and did not. All the missed opportunities, the wasted chances, reviewing all his mistakes, knowing that it was useless to think about it since he would not get a chance to try again.

The drink helped him a bit. Not much, not for long. But it was all he had.

"You could have more than that."

Had someone talked to him? He looked around. No, there was no one.

"I can make it happen to you."

Great, he was now hearing noises. Pink elephants and giant rats were next.

"This is your big chance, Nicholas. Listen to me."

* * *

Patterson accepted a drink from George.

"How is your new job treating you?" George asked, with an interest that was more than politeness.

"Quite well. Of course, it is different from what I used to know. The people there respect authority. They will never challenge you. Just bend their heads and take whatever you are dishing out. Of course, the moment your back is turned, they do as they wish, as if you had said nothing at all. Sometimes I wish that they stood for their rights, that they challenged me, and got me to explain why some things must be so. The problem, when people have no rights, no way to present grievances, or submit demands, is that they don't know how to tell a sensible demand from a ridiculous one, since all demands get treated the same. They have no sense of loyalty or duty to the community."

George smiled. Patterson was discovering the paradox of freedom. Free people can be obnoxious, but responsible, while slaves were dutiful when threatened with the whip, but unreliable the moment you took your eyes away. And who wants to keep watch twenty four hours a day?

"So, the civil liberties people had a point after all."

"Though it pains me to say it, yes. they do... Well, we are all working on it. Howard says that we got to teach civic education, and he's pushing it. It is not as easy as he thought it would be."

"He's not one to be deterred easily."

"No. Even when he is a stubborn fool."

"What do you mean?"

'His clashes with Pearce. You think that Howard would want the people there exposed to as much of the modern world as possible, and Pearce's programs, with all its shortcomings, offers that. And not just people who move away, but the others who remain, so that they get exposed to all sort of ideas. But Howard is always putting objections, trying to cut down on the number of people that Derek trains, or demanding that they leave for good. Up to now, Derek had held his own. And then there is his wife..."

"What about Roxanne?"

"I don't want you to think that I am gossiping, but I don't like the situation. Roxanne is attracted to Howard, and Howard is attracted to her. And their spouses are in the way."

"That may lead to a double divorce and remarriage."

"It would if there were not frictions due to the conflicts already. And if both Howard and Roxanne were not people who know how to kill with their bare hands."

George said nothing. He had suspected that something like that would happen. And it was his responsibility that it did not happen. Or if it did, that the damage did not spread.

"I will be going there myself... After I am out of uniform. I will not be sheriff here much longer."

"You mean that you are leaving before they vote you out? Because I exposed you?"

"I could force the issue, if I wanted. And I could yet get be reelected."

"That's what I thought when I ran against Davenport."

"Maybe, in any case, I don't want to give them the best years of my life, and then be rejected."

"You don't want to repeat my mistake?" Patterson asked, with irony.

"No, I don't"

"Can't say that I blame you. when I think of all that I gave up for the stupid job. My children do not speak to me, and they do have a point. They despise me, and I have earned it. I always thought of them as being in the way, and not important enough compared to my job. If I had been half as dedicated a father as I was a sheriff, they would not have kicked me out of the way the voters did. But I never cared for them, so they packed me off to Florida, and refused to have any contact with me... And Emma... Damn it! I want so much to tell her that I am sorry, that I should have been a better husband and father, that I love her, that...but she's dead, and it is to damn late. Dave was the only friend I had. I thought of it as a favor I did to him, letting a lonely bachelor have some semblance of family life. But it was not that way at all. It was him who did the favor, him who befriended me. And for all that I said the he was my friend, I never knew that he was a faggot. I never cared enough to pay attention. I mean, if someone is your friend, you notice.. But I did not care enough about him to notice anything. I did not care enough about anybody, only the stupid job. And then Davenport showed me what an ass I had been to put all my life into something that could be taken away at a moment's notice... No, you are right. It is time for you to move on and live your life. I wish I had done it myself. Now I have to bee the sheriff there for Howard Nelson because it beats shuffleboard, and being a sheriff is all I know what to do. And I have no family to neglect, so it is all right."

He got up, his shoulders hunched. George felt pity for him, but knew better than to express it. Let him keep his pride, at least.

"I think that I'll go to the cemetery now." Patterson said. "There are a couple of graves that I want to visit. It won't do a damn bit of good, but I got to visit them."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"We know now that David is the focus. That his coming back to see his child might trigger the next confrontation." Amy said to Zeb and Frank, shuffling the cards again. "Now we need to know what he is the focus of.."

Frank nodded. He had to know. He had dealt with Laura before and he knew the terror that might follow. So did Zeb.

Laura could not escape, no now, he had been told. But could she be rescued?

Or could there be another phoenix? With his phoenix heritage, didn't David make a desirable prize for any phoenix desiring to mate?

"So we have to concentrate on what we know of Laura and David. Frank you have most experience of her. And you, Zeb, might have gotten some insights, too. We can start by naming all the people who were in contact with Laura in the past, anyone who could be used as a gateway."

"Me, Buffy." Frank said. "Hallie. Davenport, Redwolf. George Brant. "

"And me." Zeb added " Not Jessica, she did not give herself to it."

"Still, she could be the focus as the intended sacrificial victim. And she is pregnant." Amy said..

Zeb blanched at this.

"Louella was another intended victim. So she, Willie, and Pearl should be included."

"Then Roger Collins. He was married to her once. Quentin Collins, who was her lover, too."

"Anybody who that tomcat was not the lover of?" Zeb growled.

"How about her other lover we know of? Burke Devlin."

"He is dead. And he was not claimed by her. I doubt that he will return as a salamander." Amy said. "Now you two tell me what you know. I will later talk to Quentin ad Barnabas. And see if I can summon Peter Guthrie's spirit."

Zeb and Frank told her as much as they could. Amy thought that she had enough to attempt a spread, which would be refined later when she got more information.

The Judgment card crossed the Knight. Was it resurrection as a phoenix? Or a new beginning, away from danger at last?

The Three of Swords crossed him. The peace previously attained was shattered. Pain.. parting... the Judgment denied or the Judgment abetted. depending on what the Judgment meant.

The Queen of Coins laid behind him. The woman with eyes only for the gold that she held in her hand. Gold, yellow and round, like the sun. That could be only Laura.

The Tower crowned him. Whatever goal Davis was seeking, whatever it was that he sought to accomplish, it would come crashing down.

Beneath him lay the Sun itself. The which had been offered by Laura now came calling on its own.

And ahead lay the Wheel. Something would happen. They might have the opportunity to turn events in their favor. And they might fail and pay the price.

The Seven of Swords. David was embattled and he recognized it. But the Seven of Swords was a card of victory through difficulties. So David might thing that he was in control of the situation.

The High Priestess. The Guardian of Knowledge. She was a positive force which they may tap in. Knowledge would help them defeat their unseen enemy.

The Page of Wands, a steadfast guardian. Knowledge and determination. Those would be needed to the end,.

At the end was the Fool, rushing to destruction, towards the cliff. Yet the dog followed him, tried to pull him away, a dog which represented fidelity, steadfastness. And having its eyes open, could be said to be wiser than the Fool.

Could then, by any means, avert the tragedy? Could they keep David from harm?

"What does it say?" Zeb asked.

"It confirms what we feared. David is the target again, and any of you, because of the past, might be involved in it again."

"And what can we do?"

Amy said nothing. She gathered the cards and shuffled them again She had to ask more of the cards, but not with a spread. Quickly she took out one card and turned it over.

It was the Moon. Darkness, as opposed to the Sun's light. the one who restored water to the parched Earth. Secret healing. A power to draw on.

Chris, she thought. Chris and Oriana. And Barnabas. And Megan. All those marked by Darkness would be their allies. Did not a dog try to aid the Fool? Why not a wolf?

She might call on Angelique, but given her pregnancy, she might be too vulnerable.

"So what do we do?" Frank insisted.

Amy took out a silver pendant, fashioned like a wolf's head.

"Jessica should wear this, to ask the protection of the wolf. The rest of you, ask either Barnabas or Megan to bite you. Their bite should protect you from the Creatures of the Light."

"And that's all?"

"This is the beginning. I have to get more pendants to give the children, Lyndon and Pearl."

"Buffy might not agree.:" Frank said.

"I think that we might convince her."

* * *

David stopped the car. "Home" he said. "We are home."

He was both exasperated and wistful He remembered all the struggles and frustrations, along with the good times. And the two people that he ought to see: his son and his father.

No, that was too much. Not his father. What would be then point in seeing him? But his son, well, yes, he did have to see him, even if he did not give in to Carolyn's demands.

Urien got off the car, silently. They were going to see Barnabas, and he'd better be careful with what he said or did. If Barnabas suspected anything, he would have to kill him for Hallie's sake.

And if Barnabas did not find out, then David's son...

Was there no way out for him?

* * *

Amy shuffled the deck and again cut of a card to find inspiration.

It was the Hierophant. or the Pope. It was an ambiguous card. Based on the Pope, it shared not just the majesty but also the weaknesses and corruption of the historical popes. So it might mean undeserved reverence. Weakness, or treachery.

One of them might be weak enough to betray, even unwittingly.

Buffy... She had trouble with Frank, and that trouble made her blind to the danger...

She had to be made to understand how serious the situation was.

* * *

"I do not understand what you want of me." Treks said to Zeb.

"I want Jessica and myself protected. I told you what the danger is."

"Amy Jennings told you what you can do. "

"Yes, give the amulet to Jessica, and have myself bitten by Barnabas or Megan."

"Then do it."

"But can't you help?"

"How? Blessing Jessica? Holy Water? A cross? We know from pervious experience that they do not work."

"There must be something that the Church can do."

Trask shook his head.

"What you mean, you can't?"

"It means that the Church cannot protect you. from Creatures of Light, because it can't protect itself. I am skirting heresy here, but I will say it anyway. We have confused Light with Righteousness and Darkness with Evil. Thus we might be able to hold at bay creatures of Darkness whether evil nor not, and are helpless against creatures of Light, thus laying ourselves open to the damages caused by the Creatures of Light. I don't say damages lightly. Think of all those burned alive for heresy. How many people were serving Laura's kind when they lighted those pyres? How many thought that by doing so they were serving the God of Love? The Church did not look into the right places for its enemies, and both persecuted those who might have helped it, and abetted those it should have combated.

"But surely there must be a way."

"I can pray for you and those in your struggle. But I cannot assist, The Church itself is compromised and is helpless until it purges itself.. which will not be in my lifetime."

* * *

Willie knew better than to drink, but he needed it so badly now. Anger welled in him when he thought of his father Why could it not be done for, once and for all? Why couldn't the creep get out of his life one way or the other?

Of course, he could try listening to what the man had to say...maybe after he'd say his piece he'd be able to rest.

But if it was in his power to deny rest to his father, if it was up to him to condemn him to wander the earth through eternity... then he would not help. he would condemn his father to such a fate and rejoice in it.

If only he stopped having those dreams...


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"I am sorry, Willie." Julia said. "Either you deal with your father, and listen to what you have to say, and I can help you there. Or."

"Or?"

"Or you ask Angelique to help you exorcize him."

"I don't want that."

"There is no third way."

"Isn't there a way to make the bastard apologize?"

* * *

Hallie stopped her car and looked at the distance. Collinsport was not to be seen, not here, but if felt near enough. It called to her.

Her own child called to her, and she felt the anticipation creep into her.

Did they expect her to show up at all? And how would they react when they saw her come?

She stared upward at the sun, which gave her strength. It expected a service of her and she should not fail to deliver it.

Urien would help her, And there was someone else that she could have help her.

She had to expect opposition. There were enough people in Collisnport who knew about phoenixes, and while they would not suspect her personally, would know that something was wrong.

She had to get his game pieces before she even set foot in Collinsport. This way, whatever suspicions or premonitions were there, she would not be there to be the target of speculations.

And she had to make sure of the loyalty of _all_ her salamanders.

* * *

Urien knew that she was coming. It was a sound ringing in his ears, a tingling in his skin, a sensation of a noose cutting out his breath.

She would come and he would steal the baby and give it to her, so that she could sacrifice him to her god.

And no one would know of it until it was too late. No one. Not David, who did not know how much like his father's his life was. Not Barnabas, who had once stopped Laura, but could not stop Hallie, because he did not know what she was.

And afterwards...

He did not know what would come afterwards. He did not care. His life would be over after Hallie offered Eliot to Ra. She might reward him for his help, but she dreaded that kind of a reward.

Hallie Collins was coming. The Phoenix was coming to reclaim her child. In a day or two she would come, and everything would come to pass.

* * *

Amy shuffled the cards, alone in her room. There was something about the situation that disturbed her. That Hierophant card could have more than one meaning...

The cards moved swiftly in her hand. It was as if they moved by themselves, Or rather, as if other, invisible fingers were helping her.

She squinted... It was as if she could see something. As if there were other hands... four more hands.

Women's hands. Two women who were helping her shuffle the deck.

"Who are you?" she asked "what do you want me to know?"

The cards flew from her hand. Swords and coins detached themselves from the deck. Swords, which here meant fire. Coins, the image of the Sun. And then the pages of each suit.

Servants of the suits. Salamanders. Rebellious salamanders, wishing for freedom, as Priscilla had once sought hers.

"Do you want me to help you?"

The Queen of Coins was laid down. then the Wheel of Change covered the card. At each side, the Knight of Wands and the Knight of Coins.

And after the Knight of Coins, the Judgment card/, the Knight looking straight at it.

And over the Wheel came the Empress, looking down on the Sun card, which fell on the right hand corner.

Amy stared at it. What did it mean?

Yolanda and Zoya watched her study it.

"You think that she will understand what it means?"

"She must."

* * *

Urien felt himself die inside as he strode into the Old House.

He came back a traitor, ready to drive a stake into Barnabas' heart if need be.

Barnabas embraced him, unaware of the snake that he was pressing to his boson, unaware of the falcon which tugged at his throat.

"How is college treating you?" he had asked.

"Not all the wild parties I had been led to expect I did not realize that I had to work so hard."

"But you do study hard."

"Yes. I do."

"That is good. That's what matters What you do for yourself, what you train yourself to do, that remains."

Urien nodded in agreement.

"I went to college myself. Not the same type. It was more of a finishing school for the sons of rich landowners who could be expected to inherit the family property, no matter how much they learned or how well they did. We got a social polish, and got to know the right people, but very few of us acquired love of learning. We all learned how to write decent sonnets. I still know how. But the sonnets are not worth remembering. They re not bad. If they were, maybe they would be worth remembering as stinkers, but they are just not worth the trouble of remembering them. Education was not, like it is for you, a key to the life we'd like to live. For me the key led nowhere and I knew it."

"Did you get to see many plays?"

"Plenty."

"I saw Shakespeare for the first time. 'Hamlet' and 'Richard the Third.'"

"Did you like them?"

"I was surprised. They were not dull and stuffy at all. "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.' I wonder what Monty Hall would make of that."

"Monty Hall? Who is he?"

"The one who runs 'Let's Make a Deal'"

"What's that?"

"You mean you never watched it on TV?"

"Never."

He described the game show, to Barnabas amazement who could not believe the crazy things people did. And that kept the conversation from any danger points.

* * *

David handled his son with awe. It _was_ his son. he had a duty towards him..

"Hello, Eliot." he said.

No, he would not give in. He would make a lousy father. Eliot was better off where he was.

Carolyn looked at him accusingly. How could he reject such an adorable child?


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Urien tossed in his bed. There must be a way out. There must be.

Hallie watched this happen in the flames of the fireplace.

"You do wish to escape, then." she said "you will not serve me willingly as you should. Nevertheless, a use shall be found for you."

Urien's breath became more labored, and his eyes glazed. On his chest, the falcon moved.

Then the falcon as a huge golden bird, as tall as Urien himself, standing by the bed, and studying the prone figure in it. Its beak open, it seemed to consider whether he should eat it.

Urien saw the bird and knew that it was the pendant, now grown to full size. And, as he slipped into unconsciousness, knew that it was his life force that animated it.

The falcon went to the window and flew away.

Hallie smile. So easily done... now to deal with this other matter.

"Yolanda! Zoya!"

The two salamanders were dragged into her presence by the force of her command. They looked afraid, and guilty. And yet, strangely defiant.

"You have planned to betray me. You sought to give my secrets to Amy Jennings."

Neither of them answered.

"I could make you confess, and beg my forgiveness, but that I shall do later, when I have done what I came to do... I shall keep you in safety till then."

They shrank and flattened, till they seemed to be red paper cutouts. Hallie picked them up and folded them, putting them in her purse.

"And while you are there, you can think of what punishment I shall inflict on you."

* * *

Zeb clung to Jessica as they slept. If Laura were to claim her... they thought that they had defeated her once, but with Laura nothing was forever. If she were to find a way to reclaim Jessica and her child, then it would have been all for nothing.

He had been a fool. and he would never stop paying for it.

And all because he could not face up to the fact that Uncle Dave had been homosexual, that the one man he had admired the most had not come up to his standards of perfection. What business had it been of him, anyway?

And because of that, Jessica might die.

It wasn't fair. It was his fault, not hers... But Laura never concerned herself with fairness, only with what she wanted, and what she felt was owed her.

If only he could see Uncle Dave again, confess what a fool he had been, ask for his advice... maybe Uncle Dave could protect them.

"Zeb."

Zeb looked up. He knew that voice... It could not be.

"Zeb."

It was Uncle Dave, outside the window.

He was dreaming, that was it. And, as naturally as it is done in dreams, he rose and went to meet him.

"I am sorry, Uncle." Zeb said.

"Don't be silly, Zeb. You have been silly for too long already, and I don't like that in a nephew of mine."

Staring at the flame, Hallie saw this. Zeb was dreaming of his uncle. If they pried into his mind, and they could do it, all they would see was this. She could make dreams seem fuzzy enough so that they would not draw attention.

They would still believe that Zeb was still untouched, still theirs, even after tonight.

"Come with me, Zeb." Dave said.

"Why? "

"Don't ask so many questions. Just come."

"Does it have to do with Laura?"

"It has to do with protecting you against Laura."

Zeb did not hesitate. He stepped out of the window. He was on the second floor, but as he went out, there was an invisible floor under his feet.

Dave went ahead of him, and he never turned around to make sure that Zeb was following him. He just kept finding the way through the darkness under the stars.

A giant bird stood in front of them. A golden falcon.

Zeb jumped away, in fear. It was so big...it could eat them at any moment.

But Dave turned and smiled.

"He is waiting for you. You must not fear him."

Something told him that it was not as it should be. That the bird was gold, and a falcon, and that meant that it served the Egyptian Sun God. That Uncle Dave would not ask him to risk himself this way.

But he could not resist Dave's commanding words. He could not mistrust his uncle. He had never done so as a child. He could not do so now.

He mounted the bird, setting himself over the massive neck.

The bird beat its wings, lifting itself into the air.

Zeb looked back to see if his uncle would come with him or not. But his uncle was not there. Instead a tall man, enveloped in flames, stood at this place.

A salamander

He had been tricked. Laura had caught him again...

The bird rose and a bright light came before him.

And in the middle of the light was the face of Hallie Stokes Collins.

* * *

Amy shuffled the cards. She could not make sense of the spread that the salamanders had given her. The Queen of Coins, separated by the Empress by the Wheel of Change. The Knight of Wands changing to the Knight of Coins, who himself was heading for Judgement, or Resurrecrtion. And the Sun underneath the Empress.

What did it mean? That the destructive force of the Sun had turned into a benevolent phase?

Or did it allude to the freeing of Laura?

And that was only if the salamanders told the truth...

The arrival of Megan interrupted her thoughts.

"I know that you want to bite certain people, to make sure that no phoenix is tampering with them."

"Yes. I trust that it was not too distasteful."

"Not precisely.. And as far as I can tell, no one that I touched has been... tampered with."

"Good. Now we have to face the special case. Buffy Torrance."

"What's with her?"

"She and Frank are having problems. To the point that she is not willing to believe that she may be in dnager form salamanders. And she is disasified."

"Disastified enough to fall prey to them again?'

"Exacttly. I think that she is the Hyerophant that keeps turning in the deck. She has a weakness that can lead to treason. I want you to talk to her. Get her to tell you what is the matter with her and Frank. And see if you can get her to realize the danger she is in. She and Lyndon."

"You want me to play Dear Abby for her?"

"I think you know how to do it."

"Yes. I do." Megan admitted. she sighed. "That's what I get for living in a vampire friendly town. Drafted to solve people's emotional problems...Sometiems I get nostalgic for the times when all I had to do was tak the blood from strangers and disappear from their lives, leaving only a hazy memory of a gorgeous woman who thought them attractive... Oh, well. I wanted it this way. Might as well I pay my toll."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"You have been troubled for a while" Megan said to Buffy.

"Did Frank send you to convince me?"

"Frank? I owe Frank favors, but interfering in his family problems is not one of them. Not unless there is something else serious going on."

"And there is?" Buffy kept her distance. She knew that if Megan wanted to attack her there was no way of stopping her. But still, she wanted to show her unwillingness to be manipulated.

"We think there is. Amy Jennings suspects that we may be dealing with Laura again. Or someone like her."

"Why?"

"Because of David, because of his heritage. And don't tell me that you have nothing to do with it. You were in thrall of Laura when she tried to take Louella's child. Then you were the target when she tried to escape. If we got another phoenix moving in, then we have to make sure that you are not our weak link."

"And what makes you sure that I am that weak link?"

"We are not sure. We just know that there is a weak link somewhere, and we are double checking everybody. Amy gave orders to me and Barnabas to go and bit everyone who was connected to Laura in the past"

"But don't you prefer men?"

"I do. But I can do women to. When I have to."

"And why do you have to do me?"

"Because we have to talk about the problem that you and Frank have. I want to know why you discount everything he says."

"Because he wants to keep me barefoot and pregnant, that's why!"

"Does he?"

"He told me to let go of the school. that it is taking all of my time, and that I cannot do it, and that I am neglecting Lyndon and him and..."

"And all the things husbands says to work on their wives' guilt feelings when they start talking career. Oh, yes...I know something about it."

'You agree with me?"

"It might well be that Frank will be the one that needs an attitude adjustment. Tell me all about it."

* * *

She had to dispense with Urien. He was resisting too much, and might break free. And the way he acted, either George or Barnabas would notice. Zeb King was a better prospect. She might have gone after Buffy, but her dissatisfaction was so obvious that she'd be the one they suspect. No, Buffy would make a great decoy, and no more.

She could use Urien's life force, of course, He would be unconscious of course, and they would have a nice mystery in their hands.

But the suspicion would fall back on David, not on his estranged wife, who had yet to show up.

Better wait a couple more days until she showed up, and play the outraged mother, how did David dare to expose the child to all the weirdness in Collinspot?

* * *

Barnabas had gone on everyone on his list He had taken care of Willie and Louella, as well as dropping a protective amulet for Pearl. Davenport and Sandy too. Sandy was not on the list, but still she could be used to put pressure on Xavier. And he had a request for protective amulets for Sandy's children.

Megan had taken care of Redwolf, and said that she would do the Torrances. Seems that Buffy needed a good talking to, and Megan thought herself more qualified for it.

Megan would do Zeb later. She did not have any history with Zeb so there was no danger of the conversation going into tangents that, enlightening as they might be, would have nothing to do with the problem at hand.

Frances was away, at the egg, and unless saw anyone from the egg coming, he thought she'd be out of it. Alma yes..

Julia and Kenneth? Maybe, but they were never under Laura's power.

So it came down to George.

And why did it frighten him? No, not frighten him...

It was just the memory of it. It was remembering that George had shot Willie, that he had been ready to lynch Julia and shoot him...

And he knew how much memories can hurt you...

But it was done for. And it was protection for all of them.

* * *

"Vicky has done it this time!" Megan said angrily. "She had to leave town and so she dumps it all on you, telling you that it is easy!"

"I can do it!"

"No, you can't You are falling behind. And you are spending too much time on it, and you barely have time to eat or sleep, much less care for your baby!"

"So you think that I should stick to being a housewife?"

"I think that you do not realize what a load of work you signed up for."

"Vicky can do it!"

"Vicky could do it, and you know how? She farmed out a lot of the work to the students, and called it training. Same as with the food pantry. She had the recipients do a lot of the work, kind of paying their way. But you decided that you could do it all yourself. To prove that you are Superwoman, and can do it al?"

"You saw that because I am a woman..."

"I do not know how many men could do it, not single-handedly as you tried to do. Didn't Vicky explain? No, of course, she did not. She was so busy taking Phillip safely away, and planning for the future, that she let you sink or swim with it. Well, this school is my investment, and I am going to protect it. And then I will give Vicky a piece of my mind. You do not have to overextend yourself. Look at Trask. He does not try to run the food pantry all by himself. He just keeps Vicky's system. You have to do the same... You do not need the money, do you?"

"Not really, but it is nice to have my own."

"Then you are going to make it a coop. Everyone who learns something teaches it to someone else. What is the rule in Medical School? Learn one, do one, teach one. With everyone involved doing that, the place will run smoothly. You will have free time, you will be able to spend a great deal of time with Lyndon, you may be able to patch your relationship with Frank. And you will have a life again."

It took a lot more arguing from Megan, and more objections from Buffy. They might have expected it. Buffy might have been a housekeeper and for her, marrying into the middle class was seen a step up. But that also meant that she no longer earned her own money, but depended on Frank, and that dependency had began to gall her. She had taken courses with Vicky to calm her restlessness, and when Vicky had offered her the chance of a lifetime. Only that it was more than she could handle, that most people could handle, if it was to be said. Which made her miserable and stubborn.

A perfect prospect for somebody like Laura...

Buffy was weeping now. "I felt so... ... it was so much."

"It was. It was good that you wanted to better yourself. But you have to learn to crawl before you can walk. Vicky was careless with you. Well, we will straighten it up... In the meantime, I explained the problem we have. In this Frank is right. Laura or someone like her is coming. We need to make sure that no lone that she dealt with before falls under her power again. Let me have your wrist."

* * *

The Empress. The card had come to her again. Fruitfulness. The accomplishment of hopes... pregnancy, motherhood. And, according to the Salamanders, separated from the Queen of Coins only by a turn of the Wheel.

She would get the meaning of it. For, she knew, thee salamanders were not lying. They did wish to be free of their mistress (or master, since there were also male phoenixes).

She wished that Chris and Oriana were there. The Moon card could not extend its protection until the two wolves were at the gate, guarding it.

And until then, she had to keep at the cards, seeking for the answer they had to give.

She chose the King of Coins. It represented David, with its rejection f the coin, in which he was supposed to rejoice, with its sadness, with its sense of being a captive of what others would call his good fortune.

"This Covers him."

The Eight of Swords. Danger. Anxiety, Situation seemingly hopeless.

"This crosses him."

The Empress. A favorable card, except that it had shown up in the other spread...

"This crowns him."

The Hanged Man. Life in suspension. She noticed how the gallows were yellow, the color of gold, and how the Hanged Man's feet did not touch the earth anymore. For David, the Hanged Man did not mean suspension but a resolution, the wrong kind of resolution.

"This is behind him."

The Ace of Coins. Might as well be the Sun itself.

""This is beneath him."

Six of Spades. Difficulty. Long travel. But with hope at the end. An arduous journey and a painful one, but one that was needed.

The last four cards. The Fool. That was how David was represented. And indeed, he had been foolish to live as if he could forget his past.

The Moon. Favorable influences. From her, Angelique, Barnabas, Megan, Chris, and Oriana.

The emotions" the Two of Coins. yes, here they were, the pieces of the Sun. David's heritage. Contained. Hidden. But not destroyed,, able to be retrieved at any moment.

And the last card. The Hermit. The start of a long journey that the Six of Swords hinted about. And going towards the direction of the Hanged Man. To free him, maybe?

There was a beating of wings and Megan was in front of her.

"Buffy is under control. I think that she will be more reasonable now.'"

"Yes. And the Hierophant card did not show again. I think that we stopped that in time."

"I still got Zeb to do, but it is late. I will catch up with him tomorrow. If anything happened to him in the meantime, I will know."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Zeb had been the last one on her list. He seemed a bit out of it, Megan thought. Yes, he did not make a fuss about letting her bite. But there seemed to be something in his mind...

Worried about Jessica, probably. He muttered something about an odd dream. She probed his mind... Something about his uncle...

She knew some of the conflicts Zeb had had in the past with Barnabas. Fortunately they were all solved now. or he would be the weak link for them.

In any case, he would be under her control now.

* * *

Hallie decided it was time to come to Collinwood and lay claim to her son. She would sound outraged that they had dared to bring her son so close to Barnabas Collins - and hadn't she seen him what he was like? How could they have dared endanger her child this? She would talk to a lawyer...

Stress the lawyer part. People do not expect supernatural menaces to sue them. They would continue believing on a troublemaking, but very human Hallie.

She would came in later in the day. She checked on those she controlled. Urien had sunk into a stupor, and there was no danger that he would betray. Zeb had buried his encounter with the rest of his dreams... he had dreamed about his uncle, and that was all. He was not aware of her control, and thus if they probed his mind, they would overlook him.

And without Zoya and Yolanda to guide her, she might deceive Amy Jennings a bit longer. Long enough to be able to neutralize her.

* * *

George entered the Old House. Strange that Urien was not up and about. There were things that he had to talk to it. He needed to be to told of Laura and the danger she represented. For some reason they thought that he knew, when in fact, he had never dealt with her, and had only heard passing comments that he might have intervened or not. David might have shard with him or not.

Suddenly Urien looked like a weak link...

It was so silent inside. Somehow you expected Urien to make noise all over the place, but no... Had he left?

He went to his bedroom to check. And there, on the bed, was Urien.

'Hey! Wake up!" he shook Urien.

Urien did not respond.

George shook him again.

He looked at Urien. Too still for sleeping. And the expression on his face...

He shook him again, scared.

And saw the falcon hanging from his neck. An Egyptian style falcon...

* * *

The sun shone outside, but David did not enjoy its presence. Even if Amy was wrong, it reminded him of what might have happened not too long ago.

It was over, he had thought then. But it was not. Was anything over, ever, around here?

He had gotten out of Collinsport for a reason. And if he had the guts for it, he would take his son away before Collinsport infected him.

He knocked at the door. It was a nice house. It would fetch a good price in the real estate market. It might rent of a nice sum. And no power on Earth could make him live there, not anymore.

The maid admitted him and led him to Carolyn.

"So you gathered enough courage to come." Carolyn said, acidly.

"Carolyn, please..."

"You are right. I promised not to say anything. So I won't"

"I explained to you."

"Even if you wanted to take him away, you could not. Angelique has put a protective shield around Eliot, just in case your mother's people decide that they want him. Barnabas and Megan bit all the adults, but children are protected by spells."

"Can I see him now?" he pretended not to notice the tone of voice in which Carolyn said "your mother."

* * *

Chris and Oriana parked their car in front of Amy's cottage.

"I think that she is in." Chris said. "She is rarely wrong with her cars. If she says that we are needed, then we are."

"Of course, Barnabas and Megan can only help at night."

"And the enemy probably acts in daytime., so here we are. The K-9 patrol."

Oriana sighed. If only they did not have children back in Florida who depended on them. It was all right for Barnabas or Megan, who had no family responsibilities to go crusading all over the place, but Chris and she could not behave that way anymore. They had to think of their children. No one else would.

"I know." Chris answered her unspoken thoughts. "the kids have been too long in foster homes, and if anything happened to us, they would go back again. But still, Amy is my sister."

"And she was the one who told you that I was in trouble with Verhoff's children, so I should not complain."

"If it was only the two of us it would be easier, wouldn't it?"

"Yes."

"And to think that we are doing this for David Collins..."

* * *

Hallie knocked at the door, She felt the wards in place. Somehow they knew that she and her kind were lookig for Eliot...

But she could endure the wards. As an unfledged phoenix, she could stand it. She would be uncomfortable, but if she was unpleasant enough they would not notice. Actually, she would force Carolyn to kick her out...

"Is Mrs. Collins in? She asked the maid who opened the door to her."

"You mean Mrs. Atwater."

"Whatever she is calling herself. Please tell her that Hallie Stokes Collins wishes to see her."

It was hard, walking through the wards. But not impossible. And, trying to trace them, she found what she feared. They were around Eliot. They suspected that he might be the target...

There had to be a way to make them believe that the danger was past.

Carolyn received the news and went to meet her guest grim faced. She suspected what Hallie wanted. Money, in exchange for disappearing from Eliot's life...

Well, she would pay, if she had to. But she would have her sign enough papers to keep her from laying claim to Eliot ever again... It was a pity that she had not learned anything of value from her uncle... She was only a two-bit hustler...

Hallie waited. She lit a cigarette and let the small fire at its end warm her and replenish her forces attains the constant assault that the wards offered. Carolyn better kick her out soon...

"Laura!"

She turned, afraid. They had recognized her for what she was!"

"Laura!" Roger insisted "Why have you come back?""

"I am not your wife. I am Hallie Collins, your son's wife." she said, as calmly as possible."

"You are Laura. And you have come for him again. And for Eliot, too. But I will stop you this time."

"Mr. Collins, please try to calm yourself down."

"No, you are not getting away with it this time. You can't talk to me as if I was crazy, trying to convince me that I have not seen what I have seen. I know Laura. I know you. And you will not have David, now or ever."

He moved towards her menacingly.

"Mr. Collins," she backed down. What was he trying to do? "Please, listen to me, Mr. Collins..."

Roger caught her throat in his hands and squeezed. She struggled against him.

"This time I am going to kill you, Laura. Even one such as you can be strangled."

"Roger! Stop that!"

Adam burst into the room and forced Roger to release her.

"Of course, you protect her. You are in league with her." Roger said, darkly.

"Calm yourself, Roger. Did you take your pills today?"

"She's Laura and you know it. She's come to burn David."

"He is crazy!" Hallie shouted. "No way that I will let my kid be raised in the same house with him!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Carolyn, when she came down knew that something was wrong. Hallie looked angry, and out of breath, while Adam was trying to get Roger out of the room.

"What happened here?"

"What happened? Your crazy uncle just tried to strangle me!" Hallie shouted..

"Roger..." she tried to frame some excuse. "you must have provoked him."

"Sure, blame me. That's what you Collinses do. You got a crazy homicidal maniac in here, with my child. I will not allow it! I am talking to my lawyer now!"

"Hallie..."

"I know how you Collinses operate. This is the last straw. I want my son! And you are going to give it back to me, bitch!"

Carolyn was taken aback. All her prepared speeches were useless now.

"I am going to make a report and get photos of what your uncle did to me! Then I'll see you in court!"

With this, Hallie left, slamming the door.

Outside, she smiled. It had not been so bad. She had stood the wards, and had an impeccable reason for having cut her visit short.

And it put Carolyn in a very weak position...

She might even get Eliot legally...

Adam sighed. "I am sorry. I did not get here quick enough...I could not stop him..."

"She can't do that to me!"

"She can, Carolyn. Unfortunately given Roger's history she will be believed. Talk to your lawyer, because I think that she has a case."

"She abandoned Eliot! She has no right to him!"

"Anything can happen in court. Better see your lawyer."

Carolyn shot him a poisoned look. "You are enjoying this, aren't you?"

Adam sighed. "Blaming me will not help the problem. Seeing the lawyer might."

"You always wanted Roger locked up.'

"I wanted him treated... But the way it is now, you may not be able to keep Roger and Eliot both."

* * *

Barnabas stood by the unconscious Urien. "He's not going to get any better, will he?"

"His vital signs are stable" Julia said.

"We could bring him back, the way we did the last time."

"If we do, you may stop being a vampire. And how we need you to be one. You must be a creature of Darkness to stop the phoenix threat."

"I know, but..."

"Once this is over, he may get released. And if not, we can try the transfer them. Now we have to keep him comfortable. "

"If we brought him back he might be able to tell us who did this to him."

"And it may be people that we do not know, nor are from here. No, Barnabas. I know what you want him to get well, but now we cannot afford it. You are a weapon now. .. You know that Zeb went to Trask to ask for protection? Trask said that he cannot offer it. That the only protection for him now is the one that you and Megan offer. You just can't afford to bring Urien back yet."

Barnabas bend down his head. She was right... he wished she was not but... He picked up the falcon.

'No one bothered to tell him about Laura. No one explained him to beware of Egyptian symbols. He just walked into it in complete ignorance, until it was too late."

"We all thought that Laura was done for./"

'Yes. But Laura is not the only phoenix. And David, being both the son and great grandson of a phoenix is a tempting prize for them. We should have remembered.. We should have warned him. And now he is paying for it."

"We will get him back. Afterwards."

* * *

Carolyn was neutralized. She would spend so much time talking to lawyers that she would forget to worry about phoenixes.

Amy was a greater danger. She kept reading the cards, and she might find out the truth. Even without Yolanda and Zoya, to tell her things, she could figure it out herself.

Time for a lighting strike Her advantage was that while they were expecting a phoenix attack, they did not realize that she was that phoenix. And they probably assumed that her target was David, not Eliot. Since they thought that Eliot had a purely human mother, they assumed that the phoenix blood was more diluted in him.

She had to strike fast.

Amy could no longer read the cards if she no longer had the eyes to read them, she thought with a smile.

Take David and Amy. Quickly. Then, once they thought that the phoenixes were satisfied they would relax their vigilance of Eliot.

And then she would claim him. She might even do it legally.

She better do it while Angelique was pregnant. While her powers were formidable, being pregnant linked her to the rites of the phoenix, bound as they were with motherhood, birth, and rebirth. While she was pregnant, Angelique could not strike against the power of the phoenix.

The plan was simple enough. She distrusted this. Would she deceive herself and fall prey to overconfidence, just as Laura had done? What might happen, if she was careless, she did not want to think about. Ra did not like failure.

She called the falcon and it flew to her, redgold, magnificent in its flight.

He would call on all his brothers and sisters, the Sun's messengers, lower in rank only to the phoenixes, in the House of the Sun.

As she saw the falcon fly away, Hallie thought a bit sourly that becoming a falcon would have been the reward that Laura would have given her if she had succeeded in claiming David. Such would have been Zoya's fate if she had not chosen to rebel...

It would take a full day for the falcon to get to the House of the Sun, and another to return with its brothers and sisters. In the meantime, she had a role to play, involving lawyers, and family court drama for the benefit of Carolyn and David.

* * *

The Empress, that was a good card. Prosperity, fruitfulness. A pregnant woman, a mother... But this time it meant David's mother.

The Queen of Coins becoming the Empress. It did not mean that the phoenix was now a benevolent creature. It meant that there had been a change.

Maybe the phoenix had changed. Maybe it was a different phoenix.

Maybe that was the message of the salamanders, that they were looking for the wrong person.

She looked at the Empress again. It held a bird under her arm. A predatory bird, just like the one that had felled Urien...

The "good" cards had suddenly become "bad" And the "bad", even the Devil could now be called "good" since fighting the good fight were now a witch, two vampires, and two werewolves.

Not Good and Evil. Light and Darkness. And in this struggle Light was the other name for Destruction, the Sun that dried the Earth, the Fire which ravaged. And Darkness was the Healer, binding wounds, preserving, allowing those besieged to rest and recover their forces.

Trask had said it, and Amy agreed with it. He had refused to give Zeb a cross or any other means of protection, as it held no defense against Creatures of Light. Zeb had been a bit reluctant, and while Amy sympathized with his reluctance, knew that it could not be admitted, as it might yet provide an opening for the fire to rage through.

She wished that she could gaze at the Star again, at the figure of the naked woman pouring water unto a stream and revivifying Earth. And around her, trees and flowers and birds flourished again.

But peace had not come yet. The Sun came again and again. And when it was not the sun, it was the Chariot, to which the Ancients had likened the Sun. Or Coins. golden disks suspended in the air. The Tower, with its showers of sparks. Danger was everywhere, and to be fooled by the seeming calm around them was to invite disaster.

If only she could figure out what the salamanders had meant with their spread.`

The mind went back to the cards that had been set before her. The Queen of Coins. The Wheel. The Empress. The Queen of Coins replaced by the Empress. The Queen of Coins masquerading as the Empress. The Queen of Coins becoming the Empress...

And the Knight of Wands and Knight of Coins flanking them. Both Knights had living branches with them. But while the branch that the Knight of Wands held was strong and alive (and, she maintained, freshly plucked from the tree that the Star had so lovingly watered), the one that the Knight of Coins held was dying, as the one entrusted with it was now following the Golden Disk which appeared before his eyes. And this Knight was going towards the Judgment card, Towards rebirth...

Even the Judgment card turned against them. For, where Laura was concerned, Judgment meant the rites of destruction by fire to which she submitted herself to obtain immortality.

And the Sun. Always the Sun.

If only she knew what it meant, if only she could find the key to unlock its meaning.

She shuffled the cards, putting all her hopes into it. Let the card give he the key she needed, let her have the piece which would make all the other ones fall into line.

She cut the deck and took the card.

It was the Lovers. The man and woman in front of the priest (the Hierophant) under a blinding sun.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Amy looked from the cards to the phone and back. She did not know what to make of the Lovers. She wanted to call David and ask him certain questions, questions that would make it clear to her...

No. She wanted to call David for personal reasons. They might be good personal reasons, but they were distraction, a way to make her lose her clarity of purpose..

No, David could not tell her what she wanted to know. She did not have 'hunch' about him. She just wanted to see him.

Later... When this was done, yes, she would talk to him.

But not now.

* * *

"You just can't keep out of trouble, can you?" Chris said sourly to David. "With you, if it is not one thing, it is another. When it is not drugs, it is your mother. Or getting into the wrong places. And one or the other, you manage to drag my sister into it."

"I am sorry, Chris, if I am inconveniencing you." David said testily. "Evidently it is a waste of time to ask you to give me some credit for what I have been able to do in the past years. But, please, remember that it wasn't me who asked you to come here. In fact I believe that the whole thing is silly. I believe that it is just some scheme of Barnabas; and Carolyn's to make me take back Eliot. I don't know how they thought that this would soften me. So feel free to forget the whole thing, and go back to Florida, to do what you usually go there."

Chris growled, then turned his back on him. "I said that I would stand guard, and I am going to do exactly that." he muttered.

Oriana shook her head but said nothing. She was tempted, as she knew Chris was, to agree with David, call it some weird scheme of Carolyn and Barnabas' and go back to Florida with their children, and let Collinsport take care of itself.

But neither of them would do it. Because, strong as the temptation was, they knew better. If Amy said that they were needed, then they were needed, and that was it.

* * *

The night had fallen, and Zeb King had fallen asleep. He was lost in dreams, and among the disjointed figures of his dreams came the face of Hallie Stokes.

"I will need your help." Hallie said to him. "Be careful that you do not fail me."

"Will Jessica...?"

"No harm will come to her if you do as you are told. But if you fail me, she will suffer."

He did not question how come she had gained power over him. It was a fact of life for him.

"You must stand close to David tomorrow in the afternoon. There will be a commotion. When it happens I want you to panic and scream that they are coming for Jessica. Have a real fit. Make his guardians stop keeping an eye on him to deal with you."

"And if I do that?"

"Then Jessica will be safe."

"The guardians, you mean the werewolves?"

"Yes."

"But they could tear me apart."

Hallie looked at him coldly. "You be there and prevent them from rescuing David Collins. Do so and Jessica will be spared. Refuse me, and I will claim her and her child."

"No."

"Obey me, Zeb. You have no other choice."

He continued sleeping and new dreams came on top of this one, making it all a jumble, so that Barnabas, whose mind was in contact with his would not know what had happened.

Hallie sighed. Entering dreams was hard, not because of the work but because it was done at night. Only by holding a flame on her hands could she find the power to do it..

When she was a full fledged phoenix, could she still do it?

On the other hand, if she was a full fledged phoenix she would not need so much subterfuge...

* * *

"I wish that I could convince David how serious the situation is." Amy told Chris.

"Convince him of what?"

"That he is in danger, and that we can help him."

"Maybe he does not want to be helped. Maybe he should _not_ be helped."

"Chris." Amy said severely "I know that you are angry with him for what he did to me. But that is no reason to abandon him in his hour of need. There was a time when you too needed help, a time when you and him worked together."

'Yes, but that was different." Chris muttered.

"Different how?"

"He kept away from you."

"He is still keeping away from me. He's married and had a child."

"And his wife left him, and maybe you think that he'll want you back."

"It that case, it would be my foolishness, not his. You can't punish him for the choices I make."

Chris growled. "He's going to get you in trouble again. I can see it happen. And he does not appreciate it. He does not care about anyone, not even his own child."

"That's not fair."

"You know what I think? I think that he regrets that Laura did not claim him the first time. He may think that it is a great thing to be a phoenix. He does not want your protection, nor mine, nor Barnabas' He just wants to come into his heritage, from his mother."

* * *

David and Oriana were playing cards. David did not feel any enthusiasm for it, but Oriana made up for it. And she knew that what he was telling them was not the whole story. Chris might miss it, but she, with her reporter's instincts, could try to pry the truth out of him.

"I am sorry that you came all the way from Florida for this charade." he said, dispiritedly "you certainly have better things to do with your time."

"Oh, it may turn to be more than that. And if it is only a bad joke of your cousins, that will be something that we'll laugh about a few years from now." she looked at the cards again. "If we had two more people we could play bridge."

"But we are only two."

"True. Maybe Barnabas would like to be fourth."

"With Chris the third?"

"Yes."

"I don't think that Chris cares much to be in the same room with me. If it wasn't for Amy and Barnabas pressuring him, he'd be back home, and you with him."

"And you'd be happier that way?"

David shrugged. "You two have your own family there. Certainly that is more important than we can come up here in Collinsport. And really, why should he care for me at all? Why should Amy care?"

"She does."

"I did something horrible to her." David continued. "I can't blame Chris for hating me for it. I can't blame her. I would think that she'd enjoy seeing me sweat."

"But she does not. She cares for you."

"Why? I don't deserve it. It would be easier for everybody if they abandoned me."

"Don't put yourself down. You did quite well. I remember how it was then, and how brave you were."

"A lot would have been spared if they had let my mother claim me. At least it would have happened before I dragged Hallie and Eliot into it."

"Hallie?"

"I know why she ran away from me. She knew what I was. She used to say that she was scared of Barnabas, but it was not him. She knew that I was Laura's son and thought that I would one day become like her."

"So you do believe that you are in danger."

"I am not. Eliot is. That's what they refuse to see. They can't save me and Eliot both. Laura does not care which one of us it is. He only has half of the phoenix blood I have, but it can be enough. There is no future for me, but certainly can be one for Eliot. So why don't they save themselves a lot of grief and let happen what must happen?"

"Because nowhere it says that it must happen."

"They will never leave us alone. They _must_ have one of us, and they will, one way or the other. I know what I am talking about. I know the power they have. They took over Urien, whom no one suspected. How many others have they gotten to? And if it is not in this solstice, what about next year? Or next? They can't watch us forever, Barnabas, Amy, and the rest. Sooner or later they'll forget to be careful. Sooner or later it will happen. And they will not care if it is me or Eliot, as long as it is one of us. Damn it, I know that I am a lousy father, but can't I at least do this for my son? Can't I let them have me instead of him? Can't he have at least a normal life?"

"We defeated Laura. Barnabas dealt with her more than once."

"I know. And I also know that she did not claim me when I was a child. But she came back. She always comes back."

"Not after the last time that Barnabas defeated her."

"She will come back. It is her nature. It is their nature. Don't try to tell me that it isn't so. I know about their nature, since after all, it is mine, too."

"They can be defeated."

"You can win battles. But it is them who win the war. They have time on their side. And they know about your winning battles, which is no matter how many you win, there is always one more ahead. And who says that you and your kind always win battles? Collinsport is built on the bones of those who fought on the right side and lost. go to the cemetery and read the headstones. Look for Ed Davenport, who had the misfortune to be Sheriff when the Leviathans came to town. Peter Guthrie, who tangled with my mother. Bill Malloy, who tried to do the right thing, and died for it. David Woodard. Eliot Stokes and his wife. Buffy Duncan,. Robert Loomis. To stay with me is to join them. And I am not worth it. You have children who need you. They have a future, the same as Eliot. I don't"

"Why do you say Robert Loomis? His death was an accident. And he was fighting no battles.

"So you think. So they want you to think."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

She should remove Amy Jennings now. She was dangerously close to understanding what the salamanders had told her. It was only her scruples about accusing the wife of the man she loved that held her back.. But soon she would understand that it was Eliot's mother who was the danger.

But not only that. Amy had been David's lover. Amy wanted David back, and offended Hallie. Because David was hers. Amy dared to reclaim the spouse of a phoenix, and the father of a phoenix child. Amy was a Creature of Darkness, and she dared to claim a Creature of Light as a mate...

* * *

"You can't take this attitude, David." Barnabas reproached him.

"Why not? It is the only sensible one. It will solve the problems for everyone."

"When Oriana told me, I would not believe that you..."

"That I would accept so readily that some members of this family are meant to be Creatures of Light, as some are meant to be Creatures of Darkness?"

"I will protect you."

"Protect Eliot. He deserves your protection. And he'll be much more grateful"

"I fought too long and hard for you."

"You must admit defeat. Let me bow to fate, as you bowed yourself."

"I did not bow so willingly."

"Because you did not have the choice I do. Because it was not a question of choosing whether the curse would come down to you or Sarah. You would have sacrificed yourself for her."

Barnabas did not answer.

"I want to sacrifice myself for my son. Who better?"

"It is not right. And who says that we cannot save you both?"

David looked at him pityingly "You were always good at lying to yourself, weren't you? I am not I know when something is hopeless. Barnabas, you are my friend, I am grateful to you. But what must be, must be. Should we meet again, we may be enemies, but if it is so, it will be with a heavy heart that I will fight you."

"What nonsense about fighting me is this?"

"I shall be a Creature of Light. as you are one of Darkness, and we may be fated to fight each other in the endless battles between Light and Darkness, such as they have been waged through the ages,"

"David!" he grabbed him, trying to get some sense into him. But he pulled his hand away, screaming.

David pulled the cross he carried and pushed it forward. "I knew that Oriana would tell you, and made myself ready."

This was not the Christian Cross, which he now could look. This was a Solar Cross, meant to stop any Creature of Darkness, whoever it was..

David now had the power to create Solar Crosses...

Maybe he truly was lost to them...

* * *

The birds came, one by one, golden feathers and ruby eyes. They stood on the ground, and, as they did, they changed shape, becoming men and women,. Messengers of the Sun.

"You have summoned us" Lor-Ipai-geh, the eldest said to her. And with the greeting there was a warning. The Messengers of the Sun were not summoned lightly. She was an unfledged phoenix still. Did she dare call on them?

"They guard my child. they have wards around him. Wards that I cannot break."

"It is you who must break them."

"I will make them break them by themselves. My husband, Laura's child, is also being guarded. But the wards have no power around him, as his heritage is stronger. He was two werewolves to keep watch over him, but they can be distracted."

"We will claim him.."

"Yes, you will. But not yet. There is one whom you must first remove. Her name is Amy Jennings, and she is strong with the power of Darkness and the Moon lights her way. She has been shown a path that leads to my name. She must be removed."

"Do you wish her dead?'

"No. Not dead." Hallie said coldly. "She has offended me, and she must be punished. I want her in my power."

"And she must be removed today?"

"Yes. And tomorrow, or the day after that, David."

They turned back to bird shape and flew away. Hallie saw them go. They would do as she asked. Amy would not betray her to Barnabas and the others. And then, with Zeb's help David would be taken. Then, sure that the Sun had claimed its prey, they would let their guard down and take off Eliot's wards.

And then she would claim her son.

* * *

Edmund watched Eliot crawl across the floor. He smiled at him, and Eliot smiled back.

"Dumb, like all babies." he said to himself.

Adam stopped at this. "Do you know why babies are so cute and adorable?" he asked.

'No."

"So that those in charge of them do not mind all the caretaking they have to do. Not feeding, not waking up in the middle of the night, not changing diapers... Believe, if they were not so cute, their caretakers would kill them for being so annoying."

Which was what happened to him. That was why Willie resented him, why both Barnabas and Julia turned out to be such incompetent parents. He was a big baby who was not cute, just annoying...

"Are you telling me that I should not be jealous of Eliot?"

"Well, think of all that you can do o for yourself. Would you rather be dressed like a doll, and spoon-fed, and have your butt wiped?"

"No."

"Well, so it is. You are growing up, kid. It happens to the best of us." in his case, he was not sure that he had gotten it right, nor whether Carolyn appreciated it.

"Did Vicky write to you?"

"Yes."

"Is she coming back?"

"No. Nothing to do with you. Nor me, it seems. She has had problems with Carolyn and well, they have to be settled. But you can write to her and she will answer."

"I see." Edmund sighed. "Growing up is a bitch."

"Yes, it is."

* * *

Amy felt fear. The sun was shining by the window, and it seemed to loom vengeful over her.

She had dared defy the Sun. Her! And she would pay for it. he mind went back to the Empress card, with the bird in her golden shield.

She tried to look away from the window, but her eyes came back to it. Her hand rested on the draperies, to close them, to block the deadly light.

But she did not. Instead she saw the birds come together in the sky. Large birds, birds of prey. And they were coming for her.

She knew it. All their feathers shone with the sun. Gold feathers, such as birds around the place never had. Gold feathers and cruel beaks.

She should run, scream, anything. But she knew that it was no use.

If she had been able to decipher what the salamanders had tried to tell her, then maybe she could have escaped this.. But she failed to solve the riddle, and now she had lost.

The birds congregated at her window. beating their wings against it, scratching at it with their beaks and claws. Beaks and claws made of pure gold...

The window pane broke and they flew in, bearing her down under their weight.

They held her down as they locked a golden chain around her waist. Then they flew, dragging her out by it. they pulled her out of the window then into the open sky.

Amy screamed and kicked, but there was no one who would hear and take pity on her, no one that she could hit, hanging as she did, and the chain, slight as it looked, could not be removed anymore than it could be broken.

She kept going up and up. Towards the sun.

* * *

"We got the cross of him." Chris said to Julia "When we are in human shape it has no effect on us."

"Good." Julia did not want to say that it was useless. David could fashion another Sun cross, and that while Barnabas might bite David again and again, it would have no effect now, not with his heritage awakened.

It seemed hopeless. Barnabas did not want to give up, but it might just be stubbornness of his part. They might have a chance if David was willing to fight, but if he had given up, what could they do?

Chris must be thinking the same, as he evaded his eyes.

"It might so some good." she said, lamely.

"Yeah. Some." Chris went to the window and looked out. "But not enough. When I think of what we may have to face, now powerful they are, I feel like a sitting duck. I..." he stopped, as if paralyzed.

"Chris, what is it?" Julia asked with concern.

"Amy!" Chris shouted. "They got her!"

He turned into a wolf and jumped out of the window. He growled, roared, bared his teeth towards the birds that carried his sister away. He raced after them, leaping, trying to catch one of them in his teeth and tear it.

But they were too high for him, and he knew it. No matter how high his leaps, he was bound to the ground, and could rise no further. They had the air and infinity to escape to. And Amy, helpless at the end of the chain, had to go wherever they were taking her...


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Angelique! You must stop this! You must!"

"Chris... I can't...Chris, don't stand there, help me."

He was frantic, trying to get her to help, to make her rescue Amy, one way or the other.

And she was in labor, and the contractions that came over her were too violent to allow her to stand up or even get to the phone.

"Help me, Chirrs, please." she pleaded.

"No, you help me." he took her by the shoulders. "You are the witch. You are the one with power. Get Amy back!"

"I can't!" she screamed at him. "Don't you see what is happening to me?"

He saw, but it did not register for him. All he could think about was that Amy had been taken from him. All he could see was those huge birds with their golden feathers, and how they mocked him as he ran on the ground, baring helplessly his teeth.

Hallie knew of this and enjoyed it. In spite of her being a Creature of Darkness, Angelique was a pregnant woman and thus under her influence. So she had brought about an early delivery, full knowing that the shock of it would leave her unable to focus her powers. By the time she had recovered her powers, she would have claimed at least David, and Eliot would come soon after.

Chris watched helplessly, shouting at Angelique, with Angelique shouting back, both helpless, both trying to hurt each other as there was nothing else for them to do.

Finally Chris gave up. Angelique could not help him. No one could. Amy was lost, swallowed up. And all for the sake of David, who could not care less about it.

* * *

Amy felt the tug of the chain. Then she felt it slacken as her feet found the ground again.

She collapsed. She could expect no mercy from these creatures. She could only wait for what they decided to do to her.

Visions of cards raced across her eyes. They should have told her of this... Or maybe she had and she had missed the warning...

She opened her eyes, daring to look around.

She was now on a hard, red floor. Porphyry stone. And there were candles around her. High walls. Corridors leaning out of the chamber...

And there were the birds, looking at her cruelly.

She was not surprised when they took human form. They took hold of her with their hands, and with no unnecessary movements they stripped her, chaining her hands behind her with a small golden chain.

She did not struggle nor scream. She seemed to understand how useless it was. They made her bend her head over and pulled at her hair. She felt the roughness of the razor as it shaved her head. She understood that nakedness and shaved heads were how you could tell the slaves here.

She would be a slave here, as she had been in the egg, only with no hope of release.

There were tears in her eyes, but she did not cry out. the time for it was past. If she had read the cards right, if she had understood what the salamanders were trying to tell her about the phoenix, how it had been changed, and that a new phoenix that used to be human had arisen... ..And ordinary human dazzled by the power of the sun. A mother, but not that of David...

"She is ready for the judgment." one of the bird men said. "Take her."

Hands closed on her arms and dragged her along, across red corridors, lighted by gold candles, which blinded her with their brilliance.

They reached a room where the brightness grew with frightening heat and clarity.

Not David's mother... Someone else's mother...

"Hallie Collins" Amy said. "Eliot's mother."/

Hallie greeted her with laughter. "So now you know who the enemy is. And it will not help you any."

"I should have seen it. I did not want to because I believed I had reasons to wish it so."

"Yes. You wanted David for yourself. A Creature of Light like him, bound to you. How could you have dared?"

Amy stared at her. She was afraid, but she would not let Hallie see it.

There was a man next to Hallie. Seated on a throne, his own flesh shone so hard that Amy's eyes hurt.

"You wished to spy on us." the man said, with booming voice. "To look upon our secrets, so that you could steal them. Well, you shall look at them. You shall see what no Creature of Darkness has been allowed to see, the face of Ra."

They pushed her against a column and forced her head to stand up. Pressure at the sides of her head kept her eyelids open, and her eyes staring ahead, as the man rose from his throne.

"Look at me, Creature of Darkness." he said, extending his hands 'Let your eyes feast on my face. See my splendor."

She screamed as the light entered her eyes, burning them, destroying them, like an arrow made of fire.

* * *

David stared through the window. Amy had disappeared already, and she would not be back. "Not Amy" he said numbly "Not her. Why should she suffer for me?"

Oriana said nothing.

'You should have abandoned me to my fate. You should not have taken the cross from me. Maybe if I go out and let them take me, they won't hurt anyone else."

"We don't know that for sure."

"I do know. What do they want with you or Amy? You are all Creatures of Darkness. I am a Creature of Light. It is me they want. Me, or Eliot."

Oriana heard the steps coming up to them. Chris, she thought. He had seen what had happened to Amy...

She opened the door and Chris bounded in.

He changed shape inside and growled, moving towards David. He thought of how David's blood would taste once he had torn out his throat. He was going to kill David. He was going to make him pay for Amy.

"Chris! No!" Oriana interposed herself.

Chris howled, teeth bared. Sharp, pointed teeth, which could crush bone easily.

"It will not help you get Amy back." David said, calmly and bitterly. "Nothing will help."

Chris knew that already.. But it would make him feel better to kill David. Someone had to pay, he thought. And who better than David?

He prepared to jump, in spite of Oriana's protests.

David looked at Chris' teeth, and for a moment he thought of them tearing his flesh. It would be a solution of sorts, for him. Almost attractive.

But it would doom Eliot.

Oriana had turned into a wolf, too, and was trying desperately to block Chris. David looked at them, trying to summon up his courage.

Because it would have to be his decision.

And he made it.

He loved his son, her realized. And he knew that Eliot was indeed his son and that it was his duty to protect him, whatever the cost to himself.

"I can't let you do that, Chris." he said.

He extended his hands. He had the power. He always had had it. All he had to do was claim his due as Laura's son.

Chris and Oriana stopped, hit by the invisible force that he projected.

"There is only one way that this is going to end." he said. "Only one way that they will leave you alone. One way that Amy may yet be returned."

Chris howled, still lunging at him, but now held back by an invisible leash.

"It if were not for Eliot, I'd let you kill me." David said to him. "But I cannot choose now. They should have killed me years ago. Now it is too late. And the next time we meet we shall be enemies."

He opened the door and went out.

"They will come for me soon. We must not keep them waiting."

* * *

Amy laid in complete darkness on the pallet that she had been given. She was naked and shivering. A slave, just as she had been in the egg, under Vassily and Nastassia, only more so.

And she was blind. She would never see anyone's face again. even that of an enemy. And she would never read the cards again. Whatever powers she had inherited from the gypsy side of her family were gone with her eyes.

No, it could not be that way. There must be some thing that she could do. Some way that she could escape, warn the others...

The darkness in which she must now live answered her. What could she do without eyes? How could she find her way?

Still, wasn't she a Creature of Darkness? Could she not use this darkness against the Creatures of Light? Couldn't she make this punishment a weapon against them?

But how... what could she do?

She could ask the cards, as she always did.

Only that her deck was not with her. And even if she had it, she would never see the figures, would never read the messages that they had for her.

But suppose she visualized a pack. Not imagined, but connected to the Archetypes that the cards so imperfectly represented. What if she reconstructed the pack inside her mind? Then she could use it as she used the cardboard pack she once owned.

If it could be done at all, she must try. She must concentrate, let the images come to her.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"I am willing." David said, standing in the middle of the street "Come for me. I accept my heritage I _am_ Laura's son. I will be a phoenix like her, if you want me."

Chris and Oriana watched him from the window. Chris still wanted to tear out his throat, but was paralyzed by the strength that David had shown.

"Come!" David insisted. "It is me you want, no one else. You do not need Amy Jennings nor any other.. I is me, David Collins, that you must seek, me whom you must take towards the Sun"

"We can't let him..." Oriana muttered. But she knew already that they would, that David would be claimed by the Creatures of Light and become one of them. That should they meet afterwards, it would be as enemies.

And on the sky the golden birds began to gather.

"Can't no one stop them?" she asked.

"Angelique cannot. She has just delivered her baby and is weak."

"Now?"

'Yes. Right now. David has stopped us. And both Barnabas and Megan are in their coffins... no one can do a damn thing."

"So this is how it ends?"

"Yes."

* * *

Hallie knew this. She would not need Zeb's help, after all. Not this time. David was delivering himself into her hands, believing that he was thus sparing Eliot.

He would soon learn otherwise. Later on, he would not care, having rid himself of such sentimental notions, just as she had rid herself of those. He would be one of the Chosen, no longer swayed by the pitiful please of the weak...

It would be so glorious... Eliot might be too young to make the transition when she sacrificed him to Ra, but that did not matter. David and her would have other children, and those children would grown into their glorious destiny. What was Eliot's life compared to those children she would have later? Children where the human impurity had been burned away?

That's why she had left David, not to get attached to Eliot. So that she would not falter when the time came to offer him...

She would be greater than Laura had ever been, and they would sing her glory in all the Temples of the Sun and praise her.

* * *

The birds were there. David could see their claws come to seize him, and he smiled bravely at them.

"It is me that you wanted all the time. And now you got me, You never needed Amy Jennings." he said, hoping that he could still gain her release.

The birds did not answer. They caught his extended hands with their claws. then two more came and caught his legs. He did not try to fight them as they lifted him and carried him up. Towards the Sun.

Towards his mother.

* * *

"So this is my daughter." George said. "My own daughter. I do have a child, at last."

Angelique smiled at him. "Your daughter, And mine."

"Yes. You think that Georgina is a good name? Georgina Angelique Brant."

"I had other ideas."

"I know. But if she is to live with me..."

"I may want to keep her, you know."

"Well I _do_ want her. And we have agreed..."

Angelique did not feel like arguing now. She still felt weak and if there was to be an argument on the issue, she had to have her strength back..

* * *

Zeb watched David go up, dumbfounded. It had happened. Whatever they had tried to prevent it had happened...

And Jessica was safe.

He hated himself for thinking it, but he knew that it was true. David had been claimed by those who wanted him, and Jessica was safe.

Equally safe were Frank, Buffy, and Lyndon. And Willie, Louella, and Pearl. And, for all their lamentations, they would feel relief when told of this.

He hugged himself. What could he have been expected to do? He had done all they asked him. He had listened to Amy, given the charm to Jessica, allowed Barnabas to bite him, and gotten out of the way. It was not him who was supposed to be watching over David. If the two werewolves were not enough, what could he have done?

No one could accuse him of being a traitor, or of wishing David ill... Just because he now thought it was best this way..

Jessica was going to have a child. His child. He had to think of that. And David had been doomed from the start.

* * *

And so it had happened, Carolyn thought. David would go back to his mother.

She had known it would happen when she heard how Amy had been taken. This time THEY would win, and Barnabas could not withstand them...

There was so much that Barnabas could do, but no more... And to keep David from his destiny was not part of it.

A pity about David. It could have been different for him. Or could it? In the end his heritage from his mother proved to be the strongest...

Still, she had Eliot herself. She would care for him, raise him along with Edmund, both of them would be her children, the next Collins generation, and with luck this generation would turn up better than the other ones...

Eventually there had to be a Collins generation that turned out all right...

* * *

David reached the palace. He gasped at its size, at the shining red stone, at the endless corridors, where small figures scurried about, naked, and head shaved, under blinding lights.

The birds had become men and women, dressed in gold gowns. They handled him gently but firmly. They were taking him where they had been told that he must go, and he could not command them.

"What about Amy Jennings? Will you return her?" he asked "you don't need her. You never needed her."

They did not answer him. They just urged him to go on, to keep walking across the corridors, towards a chamber lit by what seemed to be a thousand lights.

He reached it, entered it, to face a throne. And in the throne sat a woman.

"Hallie!" he shouted. "Hallie! What are you doing here?"

.f


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"You know what I am doing here. I am your wife, and the mother of your child. And I am a phoenix, just as much as Laura was."

"You! but..."

"I became a phoenix, as Laura did, thousands of years ago."

"This means..."

"This means that Eliot is the child of a phoenix, not just a descendant of one."

David went white. He could not save Eliot. He had been doomed from the start.

And what Carolyn had said, about repeating Roger's mistakes had come true even in this.

"No!" I won't let you take him."

"I will take him, as I have taken you. And we will have many more children, you and I. And we shall be together forever."

"No! I won't do it.! Not unless you leave Eliot alone!"

"It is not for you to decide. And forget Eliot. He is to be sacrifice to Ra,. We will have other children."

He tried to protest, but was dragged away by the guards

"Take him to the cage." she said. "he will remain there until the ceremony."

* * *

The cards danced through Amy's mind.

One by one the four suits came and went. Then the Major Arcana, starting with the Fool, and ending with the World.

Then she organized them as she did with her deck at Collinsport. Fist the Fool, before all the other cards, to show the state before knowledge was attempted. Then the Swords, the suit of decisiveness, daring, but also of violence, and the desire for quick and easy solutions which might not exist. First the Ace, and after the Ace came the Devil, showing that his hand often held the Sword of Victory. A warning about the capacity of Swords for destruction.

The pips of Swords came next. Then the Page of Swords, signifying Vigilance. And after that came the Wheel, with the top figure holding the sword in the same position as the Page, both showing the need for Vigilance, and sometimes its futility.. The Knight, bold, daring, something of a bully, and after him the Chariot, with the horses going in opposite directions, thus indicating that decisiveness was good only in pursuing the right objective. The Queen of weary face, showing the price to be paid of living by the sword. Then Justice, also female, also with a sword, saying that self-control and fairness must come with the Sword,, that we are not free to do as we wish. And then the King, followed by the Emperor. Both powerful, both hard. Conquerors, but also sterile.

Next the Coins. Symbols of wealth, work, effort which bears fruit. And also the excessive love of those things. After the Ace came the Sun, which it so resembled in shape. The Sun, which gave life, as well as destroyed it by draining the water... Then the pips. Then the Page, looking at a coin he held in his hand, while another hovered in the air. Then the Tower, where the catastrophe which had struck it produced a shower of gold. And the figures there you could not tell whether they had fallen or were bending down to collect the gold. The Page meant then to recognize opportunity and the callousness to profit from someone else's misfortune.. The Knight, staring fixedly at the coin in front of him, while the green living branch it carried died in his hand for inattention. And then the Hanged Man, hanging from a gold colored gibbet, all contact with growing things and earth gone, and wearing a blissful expression in his face, in spite of his predicament. Then the Queen, the only one queen which did not stare at you, but instead was lost in the contemplation of the coin. And the corresponding Arcana, where the two lovers, in spite of the blessing they are about to receive, are blinded by the too bright Sun, making it a card of infatuation and unrealistic expectations, and love not properly grounded in the knowledge of the loved one. The King, with mournful expression, holding the coin in a gesture of disdain, as if he regretted the price he had had to pay for it. And the corresponding Arcana, the Hierophant, the one who blessed the union of the Lovers. A card of blessing but also of weakness and bad advice. Coins could bring blessings but only if you did not allow them to blind you.''

Wands. The suit of everyday life, ordinary pleasures, the ability to stop and smell the flowers. And also sexual pleasure. It was a suit of Life, unless those pleasures were sought by themselves, or a need to fill an empty time. The Ace, a powerful card, full of life, and it Major Arcana counterpart, Death, to show the cycle to which all are bound. The nine pips. The Page, steady guardian of a living shoot, and it counterpart, Strength, easily holding the lion's mouth. There was Strength in Wands. The Knight, carrying a living branch.. A branch that came from the meadow which the Star was watering. The Queen, the only Queen to show breasts, a fertility symbol, followed by the Empress, also a fertility symbol. The King, holding the green scepter, and after him the World.

Cups. Lover. And also knowledge. The Ace was followed by the Judgment. The cup, overturned, became the trumpet summoning the dead from their graves. Only the Water of Knowledge could do such. The pips. The Page, humbly carrying the cup in the attitude of a seeker. Then the Hermit, the page, years later, its cup turned into a light to show the way. The search for knowledge is a lifelong search. And the danger of isolation from fellow men and women when one seeks knowledge.. The Knight, faithfully carrying his cup of both love and knowledge, and then Temperance, which filled the cups for the Knight to carry, - and maybe received them. The Queen, an otherworldly expression in her face. And the High Priestess echoed her. The King and the Moon, dispensing water and light to thirsty and lost creatures below.

And having transversed the deck and learned from it, the Fool was no longer a Fool, but a Magician.

And now that she had her deck back, she must use it to return to Collinsport to warn those left behind and stop Hallie before she claimed Eliot and David.

* * *

"So we lost." Barnabas said bitterly "After all those years, we lost. They got David."

"But not his son." Oriana reminded him. "David sacrificed himself for his sake."

"Yes... But he will become a phoenix. He will become as his mother was. He will kill people to offer in sacrifice to the Sun. There will be no escape for him."

"Was there an escape for you?"

"It is not the same." Barnabas said dejectedly.

"Creatures of Darkness, Creatures of Light. We are what we must be.. And we go on living."

"We also lost Amy" Barnabas reminded her.

"Yes."

"What chance we have of getting her back?"

"Angelique can help."

"Not now. Not while she is recovering."

He should not resent it, he reminded himself. It was her daughter... George's daughter... George had a right to be excited about it..."

But somehow it seemed as if George's daughter had been paid for by David, and Amy. And Urien who was still in a coma...

* * *

They had put David in a cage. They all tended him most respectfully, as befitted his position, but still he was their prisoner. Until the time when he regained his senses and accepted with pride his position as the Phoenix eternal mate.

How could Hallie..? How could he have been so deceived?

Just as his father... married a phoenix, who left him after producing a child, and then returned to claim the child...

Carolyn might think it was over, might soon lower her guard, remove the wards, and leave Eliot available for Hallie to collect.

And then Eliot would be thrown into the fire. As they did in Carthage feeding living children to the fires of Moloch...

* * *

"I could not do a thing." Angelique said to Megan "Going into labor drained all my powers, all my energy... It was a if the baby was drinking it all up... I do not know when I will get my powers back."

"So, we are helpless now, if they decide to come back?"

"We still have you and Barnabas, and Chris and Oriana. And my wards hold."

"Barnabas and I are useless during the day. And Chris and Oriana cannot fight birds in the air...I hope your wards hold... I will have to go and see my contacts. There must be someone there who may know who can help us."

"Will you be leaving?"

"I have to. "

"You will not stay and see my doughtier?

Megan sighed. That was going the next topic of discussion. She did not feel like raising a child. Maybe her experience with the Leviathan child had soured her on it, but she did not want to be Mommy Megan to that baby. She had to convince Angelique to let George have her...

But that would be for later, when Angelique had come to her senses.

"Yes. I would like to see her."

* * *

"I want to keep her." George told Barnabas.

"Keep who?"

"Georgina, of course! Or haven't you heard that Angelique had her baby?"

'Yes. Just in time so that she could not protect Amy nor David."

"Yes. I heard about it." George's voice fell flat. he had forgotten all about it when he had heard that Angelique had gone into labor.

"And Urien is not coming out of his coma, either." Barnabas said, with some relish, as if accusing George of not caring at all.

"I... I am sorry."

He felt uncomfortable. And guilty too. And angry. Why should he be made to feel guilty? He had caused none of this. No one had asked him to protect Amy nor David. They had all insisted that it was a job for Chris, or Angelique, or Barnabas and Megan...

Maybe it was his fault for getting Angelique pregnant, so that she could not help when it was most needed.

"I am sorry for David, and Amy, and Urien. But Georgina is MY daughter. She has just been born. And I think that it deserves _some_ celebration. It would be nice if she could wait until this was solved, but she didn't. And I don't like the idea of her being blamed for it. I am her father, and no one is to put a guilt trip on her before she can even talk."

"George...I did not mean..."

"I don't expect you to be overjoyed because of her, not with everything that is going on. But don't make me feel like a heel because I am glad that she is here. She _is_ my child. Maybe the only child I'll ever get. And I want to celebrate it in some way."

* * *

Zeb slept more easily. It was over, Jessica was safe. He was safe. Nothing like that would happen again. David had done the right thing after all...

And they could go on living, and not feeling guilty about it. They could make plans for the future...

Something beat against the windowpane.

He got up, not sure if he was still asleep.

The golden bird was at the window.

"What do you want? You got what you wanted. You have David."

The bird insisted, beating its wings and cocking its head.

"It is over. You got what you wanted. You do not need me anymore."

But the bird would not be denied. Zeb opened the window, slipped out, and sat on the bird's head.

The bird rose in the air, and Zeb had trouble holding on.

And as before, the bird led him to Hallie.

"You did not need me." he said to her.

"No. But I will need you later."

"What do you mean? You have David now."

"I want Eliot. And you are going to help me get him."

"Eliot? Your son?"

"Yes. I want him. And you will help me, Zeb King. You will do as I ask you, or Jessica will suffer. She might be an acceptable sacrifice if I don't get Eliot. Remember that."

He was back on the bird, flying towards his bed. And he knew that there was no escape for him.


End file.
